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    King Alfred of England
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    King Alfred of England
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    King Alfred of England
    Ebook174 pages2 hours

    King Alfred of England

    By Jacob Abbott

    2.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Alfred the Great was the King of Wessex and successfully defended his kingdom against the Viking attempt at conquest, and by the time of his death had become the dominant ruler in England. He is the only English monarch to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself "King of the Anglo-Saxons". Alfred's reputation was of a learned and merciful man who encouraged education, improved his kingdom's legal system and military structure. Following the example of Charlemagne, Alfred established a court school for the education of his own children, those of the nobility, and "a good many of lesser birth". There they studied books in both English and Latin and "devoted themselves to writing, to such an extent .... they were seen to be devoted and intelligent students of the liberal arts."
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLulu.com
    Release dateMar 14, 2014
    ISBN9781304941497
    Unavailable
    King Alfred of England
    Author

    Jacob Abbott

    Jacob Abbott (1803-1879) was an American author, pastor, and professor. Born Jacob Abbot Ⅲ, he later added a “t” to the end of his name in order to break away from being “the third”. Abbott began his career as a professor of mathematics and philosophy at Amherst college in Massachusetts. He became a licensed preacher in 1826, and later went on to become the founder and pastor of the Eliot Congregational Church. Jacob Abbott wrote many works, including biographies, religious books, and juvenile fiction. By the end of his career, he co-wrote thirty-one titles, and authored one-hundred and eighty books on his own.

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    Reviews for King Alfred of England

    2.5/5

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    • 3/5
      This book is part of a series of historical treatments produced in the mid nineteenth century by Jacob Abbott, apparently an American author of, largely, children's literature. As a work of literature, it is beautifully written. As a work of history, it reflects the views and attitudes towards historical evidence of its time, and is now of very limited value. Chroniclers' stories of dubious veracity are recounted at length. There are very few dates, and very little serious examination of motive. Pages are given over to the innate superiority of the Anglo Saxon race among all other Caucasians, and of that race over all others; and the innate superiority of Christianity over the Danes' pagan beliefs; Alfred was the crowning apotheosis of the Anglo Saxon Christian race in this telling. His undoubted real greatness as the founder of the English nation in something approaching its modern form is thereby transformed into an almost Christ-like godliness, an approach that would invite automatic scepticism if applied by a modern biographer. The last and longest chapter leaps forward a century to tell the story of Godwin (whom he makes the son of a Warwickshire peasant), Emma and the sons of Canute, on the premise that nothing of interest to the non-specialist reader happened during this time (so much for Athelstan, who consolidated and extended Alfred's nation-building achievements). Despite all this, I enjoyed reading this for its literary merits, and as an example of the historiography of the time, but it is to be taken with a huge pinch of salt as a historical account. 2.5/5
    • 2/5
      This is the most under-researched and off-topic history book I’ve read to date. Would’ve rated it one star but opted for two when considering the author was a nineteenth-century American writing about English history when he doubtless lacked much info that's available on Alfred nowadays.But why attempt writing a biography of someone if research is so restricted? Even the book’s title is erroneous, as Alfred was not King of England, he was King of Wessex. Alfred laid the foundations of a united England, but it was his grandson Æthelstan who became my country’s first monarch.Other errors include a reference to the four kingdoms of England during the 800s. The author gets three right but names the fourth as Essex when it was in fact East Anglia.At one point Alfred is said to have died in 900. At another he’s said to have died in 900 or 901. In truth, Alfred died in 899. Clearly the author was unsure of the date, so why state it as fact one minute, only to say it was either this year or that in the next minute? Anyway, he's got it wrong.My biggest criticism is the huge amount of time spent detailing times and events that are off-topic. Apart from the first two paragraphs, Chapters 1-3 have nothing to do with Alfred, while Chapters 4 & 5 barely touch on the subject matter either, as this quote from the end of Chapter 5 illustrates:>But we must end these digressions, which we have indulged thus far in order to give thereader some distinct conception of the ideas and habits of the times, and proceed, in the next chapter, to relate the events immediately connected with Alfred's accession to the throne.